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As new smartphone sales in India continue to grow, albeit at slower rates, the refurbished smartphone industry is also set for substantial growth, according to Yaantra. This platform for refurbished smartphones commands about half market.
“The India market is currently at $6-7 billion,” Jayant Jha, Co-founder and CEO of Yaantra, told BusinessLine . “Globally, we believe that the market stands somewhere near $25 billion. By 2025, it is going to be at $45 billion. A large part of the market will be led by India,” he added.
About 14 million refurbished smartphones were sold last year (organised sector). However, Jha said that 95 per cent of the market in India continues to be unorganised. But there is tremendous potential for growth as smartphone penetration in the country is still only around 45 per cent.
“If you look at the organised market in the last two-three years, it has grown at a rate of 25-30 per cent year-on-year. We believe the growth is going to be consistent in the coming years as well,” said Jha. Yaantra currently sells around 60,000 refurbished smartphones every month.
The 140-million-odd new smartphones sold every month and a ‘change cycle’ of nine to 12 months are factors that will contribute to the growth in the used smartphone market, according to Jha.
This space has been seeing developments as other platforms like Cashify have also upped presence in the used smartphone space.
“The acceptance of refurbished phones is going to increase,” said Jha. Yaantra could also enter other global markets. The company has a team studying the feasibility of doing business in other countries.
However, this is not going to happen in the immediate future. “For the next 12-18 months, we are not looking at entering an outside market,” said Jha.
Data security is a major concern for people looking to sell their smartphones. According to Jha, Yaantra assures a “100 per cent data wipe”. “When we do a firmware upgrade, there is no way somebody will be able to retrieve it (data) or something is left around. We do a firmware flashing for every phone we get,” he added.
Wearables are an area of interest and the company is also doing pilots on refurbishing smartwatches and laptops. “Yaantra’s focus is going to building an ecosystem of connected devices,” said Jha.
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